second chances (far too late)
by istartedthefire
Summary: Years after they broke up, Percy and Oliver meet in an apothecary off Diagon Alley.


_Tutshill Tornados Beater 1, prompt: unexpectedly meeting someone you had been in love with later on in life despite having had to part ways with them before, additional prompts "Killing Me" by iKON and "Be Well" by SECHSKIES._

* * *

Percy is happy. He looks stressed and tired, but Oliver can still read him well enough to tell that he's happy.

Oliver makes his way toward him, trying to avoid knocking anything over. Slug and Jiggers Apothecary is overcrowded at the best of times, but today is worse than usual, which probably means that they just got a delivery.

When Oliver's only a few feet away from Percy, Percy looks up from the bag of beetle eyes that he's been examining and notices him.

Oliver waves awkwardly, watching as Percy's face cycles through a number of different emotions too quickly to catalogue.

"Oliver!" Percy says finally, having apparently decided to proceed with 'politely pleased'. "It's so nice to see you!"

If it had been a few years earlier, Oliver would have called him out on it. Percy's a terrible actor—always has been—and it's not hard to tell when he's lying for the sake of keeping up appearances. To Oliver's trained eyes, it's beyond clear that whatever Percy's feeling right now is definitely not politely pleased.

"Great to see you too," Oliver says, because he's a coward.

Percy forces a smile and nods, and Oliver does too, until he realizes that Percy is waiting for him to say whatever it is he came to say and leave.

Oliver says, "I, ah, didn't mean to interrupt. I was just looking for rattlesnake rattles—Benji has a cold, and he can't get his own shit."

Percy nods again. He's looking at the wall behind Oliver, and his mouth is pinched in a way that means that he's uncomfortable but isn't going to admit to it.

"You remember Benji? He's our Seeker, he got injured in that Bats game that you came to see, and Alex and I thought he wouldn't play again but turns out he's a lot more stubborn than we give him credit for." Merlin, Oliver needs to stop talking.

"Or at least you'd think so, except I guess the common cold benched him where breaking every bone in his body couldn't, so now I have to play nurse because our reserve Seeker couldn't catch a Snitch to save his life."

Merlin's saggy left tit, why can't he _stop_?

"I didn't want him on the team in the first place, but the little git's got an uncle in the Department of Magical Sports and Games, and there's not much we can do about him. Except—"

Percy says, "Do you want to go to Fortescue's? I've an hour or two if you want to talk."

Oliver does not want to go to Fortescue's, not if he's going to keep embarrassing himself like this, and he doesn't think that Percy does either. But Oliver's never been smart enough to back out of anything that sounds even remotely like a challenge.

"Sure," he says.

"Alright, let me just ring these up," Percy says, and Oliver remembers all of a sudden that he's come here for a reason.

"Meet you outside in ten?" he asks, and Percy nods his affirmation.

Oliver ducks behind a suspicious-smelling cabinet and does some pre-Quidditch game breathing exercises as he waits for his heart rate to slow down. Then he forces himself to get up and find the rest of the items on his list. Benji's insufferable enough when he's healthy; if Oliver returns to the flat they share without the ingredients for a Pepper-Up Potion, he'll never hear the end of it.

* * *

Oliver wishes he weren't here, wishes that it weren't the perfect day to sit outside an ice cream store and eat an ice cream cone (two scoops of chocolate, yes please to the hot fudge). He wishes that it was anyone but Percy sitting across the tiny, rickety table from him, which is rude except he's fairly sure that Percy feels the exact same way.

"So," Percy says, and Oliver already wants to die.

"So?" he asks, because Percy's paused. Percy's considering his options, Oliver knows, and is suddenly sure that there's something important that he's not saying. The knit of his brow means that he's trying to work up the courage, and if Oliver's not mistaken, he's probably going to try and deflect at least once before he spills the beans.

"How have you been?" Percy asks; there it is.

Oliver says, "I've been doing pretty good. How about you?"

He wants to see if Percy will correct his grammar. Percy licks his ice cream—strawberry, that's new, and it feels like a punch to the gut, absurdly, because Percy had always gotten lemon, always, and Oliver's order hasn't changed—and raises an eyebrow at him.

Oliver widens his eyes slightly, and Percy narrows his, and they both fight smiles, and Oliver says, "Fine, _well_. I've been doing pretty _well_ ," and Percy laughs.

It's the first time Oliver's heard him laugh in almost four years. He's forgotten what an indelicate sound Percy's real laugh is, how it's breathy and a bit nasal and, if Oliver's being honest, objectively rather ugly. He's also forgotten how it makes his heart sweep and soar like a Chaser trying to avoid a Bludger.

Oliver grins at him, tries to focus.

He doesn't think he's in love with Percy, not anymore. He definitely used to be, but that was four years ago, and now is now. Now, Percy looks happy even when he's stressed and tired, looks happy in the way that he never did during those last few disastrous months of their relationship.

Oliver eats his ice cream and looks at Percy, and Percy clears his throat and looks up at him.

"I'm getting married," he says, and then continues as though Oliver's stomach hasn't just dropped faster than he's ever flown, on a broom or otherwise. "We haven't sent out the save the dates yet, and I wasn't sure if I should invite you, but you were the most important person in my life for, what, three years? I'd be happy to have you there."

He looks at Oliver for a reaction, and Oliver tries to school his face into something fitting for when your ex has just told you that he's engaged during the first real conversation the two of you have had since you broke up.

"Do I know them?" he finally asks. His voice does not sound casual, but it's not jealousy, really; if anything, it's surprise.

Percy says, "Probably not. She's a muggle."

Oliver says, "Oh."

"Her name is Audrey, and she's the best person I've ever met," Percy says, tone indicating that he'd like to gush but knows that it'd be less than appropriate for the circumstances.

"And you're happy together?" Oliver asks.

Percy smiles then, and it's the kind of smile that escapes no matter how hard you try to hide it because you're thinking about someone that you love.

Oliver doesn't need the confirmation by the time Percy says, "Yeah, we are."

He nods anyway, and decides that he'll be happy for them—for Percy, because he's found someone who's good for him, and for Audrey because she's lucky enough to spend the rest of her life with Percy Weasley.

Oliver says, "Good."


End file.
